California Governor Gavin Newsom breaks with the party on transgender athletes in female sports, triggering
In this first episode of a new podcast published Thursday, the Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom, an LGBTQ ally, broke with his party, saying that the transgender athletes playing in female sports are “deeply unfair”.
“I think it is a problem of equity. I fully agree with you. It is a problem of equity. It is deeply unfair,” said Newsom on his podcast, “It’s Gavin Newsom.”
Newsom’s comments took place during a conversation with conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who heads the conservative group Turning Point USA and played an essential role in the support of young people to President Donald Trump in the 2024 elections.
Newsom, sometimes considered a presidential hope in 2028, also agreed that the political announcement that injured the former vice-president Kamala Harris most in his presidential campaign was her previous support for providing medical care linked to the gender transition funded by taxpayers for detained immigrants and federal prisoners. Trump’s campaign had stored in a largely circulated announcement.
“She didn’t even react, which was even more devastating,” said Newsom.
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at the East Los Angeles College, on February 26, 2025, in Monterey Park, California.
Mario Tama / Getty Images
Newsom also underlined his own work in the expansion of LGBTQ rights, while referring to the current law in the State of California which allows transgender athletes to participate in school sports that reflect the sex with which they identify.
Newsom himself was a pioneer in the expansion of LGBTQ rights: in 2004, as mayor of San Francisco, he allowed homosexual weddings to continue even if they were not yet authorized to nation.
He referred to this moment while discussing his alignment with Kirk’s opinions on transgender athletes in female sports.
“I was a leader in LGBTQ places, as you know, in 2004 [I] married same -sex couples. And I know we have [a] difference [of] Opinion on equality of marriage, and so I have been there for years and years, I do not take the seat of anyone, “said Newsom, before discussing the way he heard people talking about transgender athletes.
A collection of small flags of pride and transgender flags, April 6, 2021, in Reading, PA.
Ben Hasty / Medianews Group / Reading Eagle via Getty Images, file
On the podcast, Newsom also called for compassion towards transgender individuals, even by discussing the sporting issue: “There is also humility and grace. You know, that these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, to have anxiety and depression, and the way people speak to vulnerable communities is a problem with which I also have trouble.”
LGBTQ rights defense groups criticized Newsom’s remarks, saying that they came in the midst of national counterposter to transgender persons and their rights.
The human rights campaign, a large national group for the rights of LGBTQ and lobbying rights, said in a statement shared on social networks that with discussions at the national level in the legislatures on the restriction of homosexual marriage or transgender rights, “it is not a moment to sit politely in the face of authoritarian intimidators or to throw people under the bus for the political posture”.
“Distinguishing trans children to score political points will never help someone paying their rent, keeping Medicaid or finding a job, but that will give the impression that Governor Newsom thinks our civil rights are winning,” the organization wrote. “The Californians – and all the Americans – need leaders who have courage in their convictions, and who will present themselves for them, on the faces of people who want to see us all in the closet.”
The organization also underlined a 2013 law in California which allowed students to be part of the sports teams that correspond to their own gender identity. The American Union of Civil Liberties rented the law in 2013 As “guarantee that young transgender people have the opportunity to participate fully and succeed in state schools”.
Newsom briefly referenced the law in his discussion with Kirk, stressing that she was adopted before becoming governor.
Two members of the California State Legislative Assembly, the member of the Chris Ward Assembly and the State Senator Caroline Menjivar, published a declaration Thanks to California’s legislative Caucus LGBTQ, also criticizing Newsom’s remarks, saying that they were “deeply skipped and frustrated” by what he said.
“Sometimes Gavin Newsom will seek the profile in courage, sometimes not,” they wrote. “We woke up deeply scattered and frustrated by these remarks. All the students deserve the academic advantages and for the health of sporting activity, and until Donald Trump begins to obtain it, playing in a team in accordance with his sex was not a problem since the adoption of the standard in 2013.”
President Donald Trump signs the decree of the sports executive No Men in Women’s Sports in the eastern room of the White House in Washington, on February 5, 2025.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images
Newsom’s remarks only intervened a month after Trump signed a decree intended to prohibit transgender athletes from participating in female sports. The White House said that the action was aimed at protecting women in sport from damage and adversaries who, they believe, have an unfair advantage.
The LGBTQ plea groups criticized the action of the administration and general rhetoric as discriminatory and as having a grazing concentration on the questions of transgender rights to the exclusion of economic and other questions.
